Women’s Hockey Notebook: Pride do warfare in Buffalo
If the Boston Pride are to win their first Isobel Cup because of the inaugural NWHL season, they apparently will earn it.
Despite, on paper, a far higher season than a year ago, the Pride (eleven-five) end up inside the actual equal position, a semi-final journey to Buffalo to stand their rival Beauts.
Boston controlled its very own destiny to earn a home playoff spot with a win over Minnesota — now the top seed — last week at Warrior Ice Arena but fell 2-1 on a goal allowed with much less than minutes left.
Instead, the Pride fell into the 1/3 spot and could face a Beauts squad that went three-1 in opposition to Boston and has matched up well for the beyond a couple of seasons.
In the second NWHL season, the Pride was undefeated till the last day of the regular season and earned a spot returned inside the Isobel Cup. Led through a 50-plus save performance by Brianne McLaughlin, the Beauts trounced the Pride for their first-ever title. Last season, the Pride struggled thru the regular season but compelled overtime in the semi-final at HarborCenter most useful to be heartbroken in the greater period.
This time around, the Pride are a stronger crew; Katie Burt (2.26 GAA), a rookie within the crease, has helped stabilize the Pride defense at the side of freshmen like Toni Ann Miano and Lauren Kelly. On offense, captain Jillian Dempsey has had a breakout season with 10 goals, and newcomers McKenna Brand and Denisa Krizova have powered Boston to the pinnacle offense in the league.
Buffalo is a lot more potent than a year in the past, as correctly, although. Shannon Szabados has starred on the internet, as expected, while Maddie Elia’s 2nd season in the NWHL has her atop the scoring leaderboard with 12 tallies. Hayley Scamurra’s 20 factors lead the league, and gold medalist Dani Cameranesi’s eleven assists are 5th inside the NWHL.
The Beauts have allowed the fewest dreams within the league with just 25 allowed, so it’s the 2 top devices within the league going head-to-head. Buffalo has been a thorn within the side for the Pride the past two seasons in postseason play, and this season a five-0 win on the end of the holiday break and a 5-1 win in November had been the Pride’s two poorest showings.
It’s the much less-than-ideal matchup they have been looking to keep away from. Still, this year’s rendition of the Pride, bulked up by their beginners and Olympians like Gigi Marvin and Amanda Pelkey again inside the fold, are some distance extra geared up than a year in the past. That organization forced additional time. It’s going to be a struggle, but it’s one rarely won or misplaced by way of how it looks on paper.
Riveters head to Minnesota
In its attempt to guard as Isobel Cup champions, Metropolitan has a tough course in its very own right. The Riveters, plagued by way of an up-and-down season, will head to Minnesota to face the top-seeded Whitecaps on Sunday.
The Whitecaps — a primary-year team inside the NWHL — earned the top seed with a win at Boston closing weekend before defeating Connecticut to comb their very last video games.
The Riveters toppled Connecticut on Thursday night, four-2, to enhance and face Minnesota for a chance to get returned to the title sport.
